Newsletter #287 — October 17, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Constructive Communication
Against steelmanning: It's usually not a good idea to try to make arguments look stronger than they really are. — An essay on an interesting new concept, "steel man" arguments (the opposite of "strawman" arguments). - US Election
The elusive ‘policy-driven’ undecided voter — An article about the complex process through which still undecided voters make their decisions. - Peacebuilding
Guide to Peacemaking Using Islamic Principles — From Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool from South Africa (and others), whose wisdom we have frequently cited, a guide to peacemaking from an Islamic perspective. - US Election
Black Men Are Waiting for a Democratic Party That Delivers for Them — Further reason to believe that political voting blocks are not as stable as is usually thought. - Intersectional Left
Woke Is Here To Stay — An argument that "woke" political ideas will continue to be a major force -- one that casts a long shadow across the social and political landscape. - Israel / Hamas War
We Should Want Israel to Win — An explanation of why many believe that a defeat for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran would be good for the people of the Middle East (not just Israel). - Immigration
The Great Immigration Public-Opinion Reversal — Stunning statistics about the extremely rapid change that has occurred in public opinion regarding immigration to the US.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
53 Roles That Make Democracy Work, and The People In Them — BCB #120 — An external review and summary of the Burgess's Toda Peace Institute Paper on Massively Parallel Democracy Building, - Climate / Environment
Finding Hope in the Environmental Crisis: Insights from Dr. Roger Gottlieb — Gottlieb argues that one of the biggest threats to our planet isn’t just the damage itself -- it’s our collective avoidance and denial of the crisis. - Peacebuilding
ICAN: International Civil Society Action Network — ICAN focuses on women's rights, peace, and security, promoting inclusive and sustainable peace globally. It connects women peacebuilders across countries to break their isolation and learn from each other’s experiences. - Developing a Unifying Vision
U.C. Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute — The Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley advances groundbreaking approaches to transforming structural marginalization and inequality. They are scholars, organizers, communicators, researchers, artists, and policymakers committed to building a world where all people belong. - Communication Complexity
Many Americans Don’t Trust Legacy Media — An episode of Starts With Us' "Debate without Hate: Elections 2024" in which Tara McGowan, a media entrepreneur, talks about Americans' high level of distrust of traditional news media. - Saving Democracy
What Worries You About the Other Side? — A list of election planning and communication resources compiled by Nealin Parker from Common Ground USA and Kristin Hansen from the Civic Health Project to help organizations respond to election tensions more effectively. - Israel / Hamas War
Palestinian Risks His Life for a Two-State Solution w/ Israel — Meet Ezzeldeen Masri, a Palestinian-American who grew up in Gaza and now fights for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. As the Chief Field Officer for the OneVoice Movement, Masri has dedicated his life to a two-state solution. - Social Complexity
Reality bytes: Kids confuse the real world with the screen world — If we want to reduce screens’ negative impact on our children’s mental health, we need a “hard reset” of their relationships with their "devices" to make sure that they are deeply aware of the difference between the real world and the screen world. - Trust / Trust Earning
We can be drawn to distrusting elections when "our side" loses — The goal of this article is to get people to examine how emotions can make their views more pessimistic and unreasonable. - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
The Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map — The Healthy Democracy Ecosystem Map is the first comprehensive look at the universe of organizations promoting healthy democracy in America. - Massively Parallel Peacebuilding
U.S. Democracy Hub — The most comprehensive, insightful, and accessible data platform for the U.S. nonprofit Democracy field providing visibility into what’s happening, who’s involved, and how funding is flowing in the parts of the U.S. Democracy Field that matter to you. - Saving Democracy
Journal of Democracy Subject Guides — This subject guide shares reading lists covering crucial contemporary subjects. The materials listed can serve as no-cost or low-cost reading materials in undergraduate political science courses. - Effective Problem-Solving
Congress Ranked: Top Problem Solvers and Dividers — Compiled by Starts with Us, a weekly rundown of the top (and bottom) players in America's most popular full-contact sport -- politics. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Working for the Well-being of Current and Future Generations — Learning from in-country innovations and building a global community for change -- the Implementation Handbook for the UN Declaration on Future Generations.
News and Opinion
From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better. (Formerly, Beyond Intractability in Context.)
- Communication Complexity
I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is — An alarming look at rapid changes now taking place in the way in which young people learn about society and the diminishing influence of information sources that were prominent just a few years ago. - Interstate War
War & Genocide in Modern Times — A long and thought-provoking essay that provides a valuable framework for thinking through the complex tensions that exist between war and peace. - The Nature of Complexity
A Syllabus for Generalists — For a society dominated by specialists who have trouble seeing the big picture, a syllabus for those who also want to be generalists. What would you add? - Developing a Unifying Vision
America Is Suffering an Identity Crisis — As the United States approaches its 250th birthday celebration, a thought-provoking article about our inability to decide what, if anything, is worth celebrating. - Effective Problem-Solving
The Case for Explorers’ Day — A creative idea for moving beyond October's perennial conflict between Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day. - Hate Mongering
Iran surges cyber-enabled influence operations in support of Hamas — A shocking report from Microsoft detailing how its systems have been hijacked by Hamas as part of a global propaganda effort. (Something that other geopolitical rivals are also doubtless doing.) - Hate Mongering
How Foreign Agents Make Jews and Israel Seem Evil — An overview of the many ways in which hostile powers can exploit modern communication systems to advance their objectives. While this article focuses on Israel and Hamas, the threat is much broader. - Authoritarianism
Von der Leyen’s Authoritarian Plot: National democracies will be subordinate to her Commission — A reminder that power grabs that exhibit authoritarian tendencies are not confined to populist movements and unstable societies. This surprising article looks at the issue with respect to the European Union. - Education
‘College for all’ needs a rethink. National security could depend on it. — In the midst of an increasingly serious national security challenge, an argument that our college-focused educational system is not producing enough people with the essential, blue-collar skills we need. - Saving Democracy
Supreme Court Reform Is in the Air — An especially good overview of proposals to "reform" the Supreme Court and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. - Interstate War
Four Ways Ukraine’s Drone Innovations Are Changing Warfare — We live in a time when extraordinarily rapid innovation is ever present. This article offers a case study of how the war in Ukraine is accelerating this process. - Race / Anti-Racism
Skin Deep: Reverse racism is just racism — An explanation of why reverse racism (in any of its many disguises) is a formula for perpetual conflict -- a conflict that will undermine both democracy and efforts to address the very real problem of racism. - Violence
A Masked Mob Outside a Lawmaker’s Home — An argument that the way in which masked, anti-Israel protesters are attempting to intimidate a Jewish member of Congress is similar to the way the Ku Klux Klan tried to intimidate its opponents. - Terror
When a Terror Group’s Brutality Backfires — A hopeful argument that terrorism, as a political strategy, is ineffective and counterproductive (at least over the long run). - Crime / Policing / Guns
Inside America’s Fastest-Growing Criminal Enterprise: Sex Trafficking — As we focus on political violence, terrorism, and the possibility of civil and international war, a timely reminder that criminal violence is also a major threat to large numbers of people. - Freedom of Speech
Despite positive signs for Team Freedom, the game is far from over — From the former Governor of Indiana, an update on what he sees as the status of today's freedom of speech conflicts. - Freedom of Speech
A People’s History of Free Speech — A valuable primer on the origins of and the reasoning behind free speech protections. - Rule of Law
Jack Smith Owes Us an Explanation — A call for Jack Smith to explain why the way in which he is prosecuting Donald Trump should not be considered the kind of politically motivated prosecution that, in other contexts, would be seen as a threat to democracy. - Israel / Hamas War
This Is the House That Hezbollah Built — More information about the ways in which Hezbollah has copied Hamas' civilian shield/sacrifice strategy. - Israel / Hamas War
Capitalizing on the Weakening of Hamas and Hezbollah — From Dennis Ross, a man who has devoted much of his professional life to making the two-state solution or reality, thoughts about how the dramatic weakening of Hamas and Hezbollah changes things. - Climate / Environment
The Clean Energy Transition’s Voter Problem — A report on recent research that documents the giant chasm that divides grassroots citizens from proponents of a clean energy transition -- something that we have to find better ways of addressing. - Superpower Conflict
The Staggering Price You’re Paying for America’s Nuclear Makeover — For those not taking international tensions seriously, a story about how quickly we are sliding into a new nuclear arms race.
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About the MBI Newsletters
Two or three times a week, Guy and Heidi Burgess, the BI Directors, share some of our thoughts on political hyper-polarization and related topics. We also share essays from our colleagues and other contributors, and every week or so, we devote one newsletter to annotated links to outside readings that we found particularly useful relating to U.S. hyper-polarization, threats to peace (and actual violence) in other countries, and related topics of interest. Each Newsletter is posted on BI, and sent out by email through Substack to subscribers. You can sign up to receive your copy here and find the latest newsletter here or on our BI Newsletter page, which also provides access to all the past newsletters, going back to 2017.
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